Oil recovery apparatus



Aug. 8, 1933.. B. R. ANDERSON (51L RECOVERY APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Dec.

' INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y.

1933 B. R. ANDERSON OIL RECOVERY APPARATUS Filed Dec. 23. 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

A TTORNE Y.

Patented Au s; 1933' Y Lama 5 orrlnscovnsr APPARATUS Bennett R; Anderson, Detroit, Mich, assignor'to Ford Motor Ccmpany, Dearbcrn, Mich, a 001'- l1 poration of Delaware Application December 23; 1929 Serial N0. 416,999 v The object of my invention is to provide; an oil recovery apparatus of simple, durabl and inexpensive construction. v k

" A further object of my invention is to provide an oil recovery apparatus especially adapted for -salvaging thatporticn of the cutting oil, incidental to machining. operations; :Which ordinarily adheres to the chips and metalshavings. it is general machine shcppractice when turning, boring, or cuttingsteel to apply a cutting'oil to .thevwork to be machined. The. pearposeofysuch oil isto lubricateand cool'the cut-v 1 The' cutting ,oil' used is ordinarily a; mixture ofminer'al oil and cleic'acid. The oleic acid has thec property of Wetting the chips so-that water containing. caustic soda and denatured alcohol may, form" an. emulsion therewith tov wash the oil from thegjchips. In my improvedapparatus the emulsion is allowed 'to' settle and the oil drawn on" the surface to obtain the "recovery thereon; i

lA- processlforpa 1 Wise lost cutting c l hasceme into: considerable use and consists in placing the chipsina cen-- trlfuge .where they are rotated'sothat the oil may bethrown on by centrifug'a'l action; Only a smallgpa'rt of the'oilcan'be recovered by this process .for the reason that only'a'thinfilmad- 'herestothe surface of each chip} the, irregular and large amount of sUIface-accounting. fcr the 40' large amount of oil held'therein; Evenaat the highest speed which. it is safe toxoperate these centrifuges, this film of oil usually remains intact and onlythe' small amount cf'free on between the chips is recovered. A further-disadvantage to this process arises because the'reis considerable power required to operate such centrifuges andwhich necessarily makestheir cost of operation considerable; Fur ther, extreme care musthe; taken whenxp'lacing the chips in'fthese. machines .50 that a llbalance maybe maintained to provide against excessive vibration in'the machine'.-"f -i .My irriproved apparatus which willapresently be descriibed inzthis.specification;{overcomes the A vview 'through the device shownin Figure Land 9 above "mentioned disadvantages and further ioboil has beenfldrained a single machine, t in the drawings; recovers from so to 105) gall'ons75 Lally recovering this other:

tains a complete 'r'ecov chips.

Briefly, this process consists in conveying the. chips as they come from the turning machine slowly beneath a stream o1"-,=washin solution. The solution is then collectedin a tank where it is allowedto settle, theoil rising to the surface so that it may 1'b6 drawn-cit. 'The Wash-. ing solution is used-over and over again,j.there ry of al l the on from the being, very little lost in the washing" operatiohifiS' It may readily be seen that as'the only power required in this apparatus is. used: to operate the slow moving conveyor and the circulating pump for therwashing solution, the cost of operation H is verylittle.

Further, no balanci'ngior the-like is required'so that unskilled operators may run the device at :fullqefliciency. lt-n1aybe-:men-' tioned that,.. ,yvith ordinary chips from Whichthe shown of oil per hourand' requires only one or two attendants :to-operate it. r

In the manufacture of certain apparatusit is usually desirable to machine the hardersteels inthe presence of the 'aboye mentioned cutting oil While With the softer steels, a soda Water solution is often used. This solution usually consists of ole'ic acid; denatured alcohol, caustic soda, and paraffine oil, mixed with about'twenty- V five parts oi water; Such a soda solution facts to etthe chips so that the oil Ibewashed 'i away by the Wfltfil; When these two cutting fluids are used in-the same plant; the chips Whichare saturated with each solution maybe simultaneously fed through my oil re'coverydna 9 chine and' onlywater used forthe wasmng'seiu;

tio'n; The Water cleans the soda solution from" the "chips, containing it, :Whlle this solution is pumped overthe chips containing oil tl'ierehy 1 forming an'Y'e'mulsion' from which the oil will settle out. It is thus possible inmost *plants'to' continuously operate the machine without adding'new Washing solution. The addition of only a little Water to compensate for evanoration is all that is required. I i y .,.With these and other objects in VieW, myix 1 vention consists in the arrangement, cohstruc .tionfand combination ,of the various parts of my improved device asclescrioed in my specification, claimed in my claim, and illustrated'in the "accompanying drawings, in whichiz'f Figure I'shov'rs a side elevation of my improved apparatus' i I' T igure 2 shows a vertical, central, sectional) Figure 3'shows a sectional view taken on the line '33 of Figure 2.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, I

have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate a rectangular shaped tank ordinarily placed on the floor of the building which houses the apparatus and which forms the washing solution reservoir and settling tank. A conveyor housing 11 is disposed directly above and slightly to the rear of the tank 10 and is provided with a pair of legs 12 which support the rear end of this housing. A pair of horizontal bracing members 13 extend from the rear of the tank 10 to the legs 12 to rigidly interconnect it with the conveyor housing 11.

A continuous conveyor is diagonally mounted in the conveyor housing 11 with its forward end extending into the tank 10 by means of a pair of idler sprockets 14 secured to a shaft 15, the latter being rotatably mounted in the lower part of the conveyor housing 11. A pair of driven sprockets 16 are secured to a shaft 17 which is also rotatably mounted but in the upper and rear portion of this conveyor housing.

A continuous conveyor 18 formed from a plurality of trays linked together extends around these two sprockets so that when the shaft 17 is rotated, the upper surface of the conveyor 18 will travel in the direction shown by the arrow 24. Each tray of the conveyor 18 is perforated with a plurality of small holes in the bottom thereof so that washing solution which may be deposited therein will drain through these trays.

Aconventional speed reducer 19 having a driven pulley '20 secured thereto is mounted just rearwardly of the tank 10'and an electric motor 21 is-directly connected therewith to rotate the V pulley at a reduced speed. 1 A second pulley,

shown by dotted lines 22 in Figure 2, is secured to the outer end of the shaftl? and a belt or chain 23 connects this pulley with the pulley 20.

Thus, when the motor 21 is operated the conveyor chain 18 will travel slowly in the direction shown by the arrow 24.

' A diagonally shaped trough 25 extends parallel and beneath the conveyor 18 into the tank 10, the purpose of which is to convey the washing solution which may drain through the trays 18 to the forward end of the tank 10. It willalso be noted that a vertical flue 28 is formed in the rear part of the conveyor housing 11 directly below the rear end of the conveyor 18 so that material which may have been deposited on the conveyor may be conveyed over the rear end thereof and dropped through the flue 26. chips are thus conveyed to the rear end of the machine while thewashing solution is guided to the forward end of the settling tank.-

An intake line 27 extends upwardly from the forward end of the conveyor housing 11 and forms the intake through which the chips from which oil is to be recovered are placed in the machine. It may be seen that when the conveyor 18 is in operation, chips may be dropped into the flue 2'7 from where they will be conveyed along the upper section of the conveyor to the rear end of the housing 11 and will then be dis-- charged through the flue 25. A portable bin 28 1S placed directly beneath the flue 26 and is provided with a plurality of castors 29 so that after the oil has been recovered from the chips they maybe conveniently disposed of. The dotted lines 30 diagrammatically illustrate the normal position of the chips on the conveyor chainand in the bin 28. v

The

an electric motor 61.

It will be noted from Figure 2 that a space is left between the end of the tank 10 and the forward end of the trough 25 which space it used to receive a wire mesh basket 31. a pair of straps 32 secured to the basket hook over the sides of the tank 10 thereby supporting, the basket in the tank. The washing solution used in the device normally flows down the trough 25 V and is deposited in this wire mesh basket from which it drains through to the tank 10.

A dam 33 is placed across the'center portion of the tank 10 and extends from the bottom of the tank to a position about two-thirds of the way to the top. The upper edges of this dam 33 is rolled over forwardly at 34 for a purpose which will later be described. A second dam 35 is provided across the tank between the dam 33 and the rear wall thereof and extends from the bottom of the tank to a position slightly below the top of the darn 34. The dam 35 is likewise provided with a forwardly rolled over upper edge 36 similar to the edge 34. A bafflev plate 65 extends across the upper portion of the tank between the dams 33 and 35, the, lower edge of this baffle extending a short distance below the edge 36 of the dam 35; The tank 10 is thus separated in three compartments which for convenience are given the reference number 37, 38, and 39, r spectively, starting from the forward end of thetank. a

a A water line 40 isiconnected to the forward lower part of the tank 10 through a suitable valve 41 and pipe fitting 42. To start. the .device, the valve 41 is opened until the water level in the tank reaches a predetermined height and is then only periodically operated to maintain this water level.

A pipe 43 isconnected with the fitting 42 and extends through a valve '45 to the intake of a centrifugal. pump '44. The pump 44 iszofthe conventional type and is directly driven'by an electric motor 46 so that when the valve is open, the pump 44 may draw fluid from the forward. part of the tank 10. A discharge pipe 47 extends from the pump 44 to the upper portion of the conveyor housing 11 from which a horizontally extending distributingpipe 48 joined thereto extends directly over the center portion of the conveyor 18. A plurality of jets 49 are provided in the lower section of the pipe 48 so that the fluid pumped through this pipe will be sprayed over the full width .of the conveyor 18.

It may thus be seen that after the tank 10 is filled with solution, this fluid willbe continuously pumped through the jets 49', over the conveyor 18 and will then flow down'the trough 25 carrying whatever oil'which may have been washed from the chips on the conveyor into the tank 10.

with drain fittings in the lower portions thereof which have been given the reference numerals ing toa gear type pump 60 which-is driven by' A discharge pipe 62..ex tends from the pump 60 to a suitable oil reservoir I 135 The compartments 37, 38, and 39 are provided in starting the conveyor 18 and the centrifugal pump 44, the compartment 37 having previously been filled witha solution of water and washing powder to a point just. below the upper edge of the dam 34. The chips from which' the oil is to be extracted are droppedthrough the flue 2'7, preferably'from the floor above, onto, the conveyor 18. The washing solution is thereby pumped up to the distributing pipe 48 and, is discharged forcibly through'the jets 49 onto the chips as they are conveyed beneath, If a portion of these chips contain soda water, no oleic' acid or caustic soda need be added to the water in the compartment 37 as this mixes with the water'to form a washing solution. i

It may be seen that this action washes the oil from the chips and both the oil and the washing solution flow down the trough 25 into the basket 31. Some of the finer chips may be carried alongwith the washing solution through the trays of the conveyor and it is the purpose of the basket 31 to retain these small chips and to prevent themfrom being deposited in the tank 10. The major portion of the chips, however, are carried along to the end of the conveyor and deposited in the bin 28.

After the device has been in operation a short time the level in the compartment 37 is raised due to the addition of oil from thechips and,

the oil being lighter than the washing solution rises to the top and flows over the upper edge- 34 of the dam 33 in a semi-pure state. The centrifugal pump 44 being supplied from the lower portion of the tank 10 pumps only the washing solution so that comparatively clean solution is always sprayed onto the chips.

It will be noted that due to the agitation in the compartment 37, the oil which overflows into the compartment 38 is not entirely free from water. Howeventhe rolled over portion 34 prevents agitation occurring in thecompart ment 38 so that the semi-pure oil which is deposited in this compartment may more thoroughly separate, the solution going to the bottom of the compartment while the oil remains in the upper portion. All scum, wood particles, or

' the like which may be floating on the upper the compartment 39 is usually free from-chips and all foreign particles, occasionally some washing solution will enter this compartment but such solution will be deposited in the bottom of the tank from where it can periodically be drawn off. .As the level of the washing solution in each of the compartments 37, 38, and 39,

rises above a predetermined point, the respec tive valve 34, 35 or 36 may be open to allow'this solution to-drain out thereby lowering the level in the tank. The oil outlet 58 from the compartment 39 is considerably above the drain fitting 52 so that only pure oil is pumped-out throughv the pump 60 into the oil reservoir' 63.

The chips are ordinarily quite hot when they enter the machine so that they heat up the washing solution thereby more thoroughly accomplishing the washing action. I

. It may be found advantageous after machinmyirnproved device, among which may be men-' tioned that, in this continuous process no manual handling of the chips is required. Further,

all of the oil is extracted'from these chips, not

even a slight film remaining'thereon after they are discharged from the machine. 'co'very" of the oil is thereby obtained in which this process is superior to the centrifugal proc-; ess now used for this purpose. Still a further advantage results over the centrifugal process in that the oil recovered is free fromall chips and foreign solutions, whereas, in the centrif- 'ugal process the soda water which may be used. a with a portion of, the chips is also extracted and mixed with the oil from the centrifuges.

With my improved device the soda water associated with some; of the chips is made to'accomplish a desirable result, while in the centrifugal process the effects of soda water are harmful. I

Some changes may be made in the arrangement," construction, and combination of the varlous parts of my improved device without departing-from the spirit of my invention, and it ,is my intention: to cover by my claim such" mixture conducted into one end thereof, "a dam of lesser height than said tank extending there across, a second dam of lesserheight than the first mentioned dam extending across said tank, said dams being so positioned that they form a plurality of partitions across the tank of gradually receding height when viewed from the end of the tank adapted to receive. saidv mixtures, the upper edge of each of said parti-- tions being rolled over towards the mixture receiving end of said tank so as to provide fiat portions which are slightly inclined downwardly towards said receiving end and. which. flat portions form the top edge of each of said dams,

and a baffle plate extending across'said tank disposed 'in position between said dams, the lowermost edge thereof being spaced between thefbottom of said tank and the top edge of said second 'mentioned dam and the upper edge of said baflle plate being positioned above the top edge of the first mentioned darn, said inclined 7 portions being adapted to collect particles floating on the surface of said liquid so that they may be readily raked off.

' BENNETT RQANDERSON. 

